Profiling is the practice of collecting and analyzing information about a person or group to predict their behavior or categorize them, sometimes unfairly.
From *profile* plus the suffix *-ing*, turning the idea of drawing an outline into the act of building an information outline. The meaning expanded from a physical outline to a data or behavior outline.
Profiling is basically drawing an invisible sketch of someone in your mind or in a database. The scary part is that this sketch can start to matter more than the real person, especially in areas like policing or advertising.
'Profiling' in policing and marketing has often relied on gendered and racialized stereotypes, affecting women (especially women of color) through biased surveillance, stop-and-search, and targeted advertising. Such practices have reinforced discriminatory assumptions about behavior and risk.
Use 'profiling' carefully and specify whether you are critiquing or describing a practice; avoid endorsing profiling based on gender, race, or other protected characteristics.
["pattern analysis","segmentation","risk assessment (with safeguards)"]
Women activists, lawyers, and researchers have documented and challenged discriminatory profiling practices, pushing for legal and technical safeguards.
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